


the house that built me

by AllHaleOlicity



Category: Arrow - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Next Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27240055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllHaleOlicity/pseuds/AllHaleOlicity
Summary: Thomas comes home
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	the house that built me

The second he arrived in the driveway of the Queen mansion, he knew he wasn't in the right place. He turned around, trying to catch up with the rift behind him before it faded away but it was already too late. The portal back to his world was closed and even if it weren't, there was no way he'd find Jade. If he bounced off course, maybe she did too. Maybe she was here. Maybe she was somewhere else. Maybe she was where they had planned to go in the first place.

None of that mattered now, though. Because Thomas was here. Jade can take care of herself, she's proved it a handful of times already. He needed to focus on a new plan for himself. Decide what to do, where to go. Finding Jade is a problem he'll face when he has a safe spot to rest for the night.

The mansion in front of him was bright. The lawn was mowed. There were even lights up the driveway, directing cars to the front of the home & to the garage. It looked welcoming. It looked friendly. Looks can be deceiving. Regardless, he needed a place to stay tonight and right now, this was his only option.

Thomas held on tightly to the case in his right hand and the backpack strap in his left shoulder, and he began to walk up the driveway and towards the brightly lit mansion.

Every part of him wanted to turn around and find somewhere else. But he knew nothing about this earth. He didn't even know what earth he was on. For all he knew, this could be the Merlyn mansion, the Chase mansion, even the Wayne mansion. He had no information about this place or this earth. But all of his doubts where outweighed by the fact that he had no other choice. Maybe he'd be lucky and Jade would be here. He had to take the risk. If not for himself, then for her.

After about a minute of taking his time walking up the driveway, he finally arrived at the front door. Instinctively, he went to knock. Before doing so, he paused and saw the doorbell on the right side of the door. It took a lot of effort for him to reach for the doorbell and ring it, but he did. In a quick swoop, he reached over, pressed the button, and straightened back up. He held his case closer than it was before. It's not like a bow locked inside of a metal case is going to help him if an evil villain who murdered the whole Queen family opens the door, but it was a comfort thing.

Through the design on the glass inside of the door, he could see a shadow coming down the stairs. Again, every part of him wanted to turn around and sleep under a highway. But the slight chance that Jade was here is what kept him standing there.

The door swung open, the light from inside pouring into the night behind Thomas. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the light change, but when they did he saw a young blonde standing in front of him.

She wore small rectangle glasses, an oversized sweater, and a pair of slippers. She looked at him for a minute, raised an eyebrow, then leaned her head on the door while still holding onto the back of it in case she needed to slam it shut.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh," What could he say that wouldn't seem entirely insane? If this girl didn't know who he was, she might not know anything about the Queen family. She might know nothing about the multiverse or meta humans. "Is Jade here?" He finally spoke, not knowing what else to say.

The girl thought about it for a minute, then shook her head as she looked back at him. "No. I don't know any Jade. Sorry." She answered, still skeptical of him.

He sighed. Figures she wasn't here, but he had to see. "Sorry for bothering you." He turned around, ready to walk down the steps and leave.

"Wait." The girl perked up, taking a step forward. "You just...You're really just looking for someone?"

He turned back around. "Yeah. She isn't here, maybe she's somewhere else."

"What's your name?"

"What?"

"Your name?" She took another step, now fully out of the doorway and on the front porch. "You got a name, right?"

"Thomas."

The girl's eyes widened for a second, then she regained her control.

"What?" He asked, taking a step back towards her.

"Nothing. I...My uncle's name is Tommy. My sister's middle name is Thomas." She shrugged. "Weird coincidence."

"Your _sister's_ middle name?"

"This is too much information for a complete stranger. I hope you find your Jade." She turned around to go back inside but Thomas called after her.

"You don't have a name?"

She paused, turning around. "Where the hell are you from?" She let out a small laugh.

Thomas remained serious. She dropped her smile, crossing her arms.

"Miriam."

Thomas nodded slowly. "Last name?"

"I didn't ask for yours." She became defensive. "You're the stranger at my house at 2 AM."

"Why did you open the door at 2 AM to a stranger?"

"I thought you were my brother. He always locks himself out when he sneaks out of the house."

"Your brother?"

"Do you need a family tree? Or maybe a doctor?" Miriam rolled her eyes. "Do you not know where you are?"

"I know where I am, I grew up here." He muttered, looking up at the house. He let out a sigh, bringing his attention back to the girl. "If a girl named Jade comes by, tell her I'll be at the office." With that, he turned back around and started to walk back down the driveway.

"Office?" Miriam stepped closer as he walked away. "With a backpack and a suitcase?"

"You ask a lot of questions." He paused in his tracks, turning around one last time.

"It's 2AM, you show up looking for a girl, and then leave when she isn't here."

"Would you rather get kidnapped?"

"It'd be something I could tell Troy when she gets back from time traveling."

Thomas raised an eyebrow. Miriam crossed her arms, challenging him. If she dropped enough information, then maybe he'd give some back.

"Alright...Well, I'm not going to do that. You're not Jade, you don't know where she is, you're no use to me."

As he turned to walk off this last time, a car pulled up in the driveway, shining directly on him and Miriam. Before Thomas could even see who was driving the car, and before the car even had a chance to fully stop, the passenger door was open and someone was getting out of it.

Miriam held her hand up, trying to block the light from the car. "Owen?" She asked, almost 70% sure it was not her little brother getting home before their parents did.

"Who are you?"

Miriam put her hand down and crossed her arms again. "A stray! Can we keep him, Daddy?" She asked.

Even though it was dark, and there were car lights blaring right at her, Miriam could sense the glare she received from Oliver.

"Miriam, go inside." Oliver ordered, not taking his attention away from the stranger standing in front of the car.

Miriam looked at Thomas, then at Oliver. She slowly backed up towards the door, but didn't go inside the house.

The car lights shut off and the driver door opened up. It took a minute for Thomas to adjust to the light changes, but once he could, he finally could see who was standing in front of him. The voice sounded familiar, and the face confirmed his suspicion on who got out of the car first.

"I can explain." Thomas spoke, not paying attention to the driver of the car. "I'm looking for a friend of mine."

"You don't have any friends here."

"He could be Eliza's friend." Miriam said from the shadow by the front door of the house.

"Miriam." Oliver looked directly at her, somehow, even though it was pitch black. "Inside."

Thomas looked between the two of them, stopping on Oliver. "I... No. I don't know Eliza. I'm looking for Jade. I was told she wasn't here. I was just leaving."

"It's 2AM, why are going to random houses looking for a friend?" The driver of the car asked. The voice wasn't one Thomas immediately could recognize. It was a woman's voice, it sounded like something he's heard before, but not familiar enough to know it off the top of his head.

"It's complicated."

"You said you could explain." Oliver took a step closer. "You have one minute."

Thomas looked back over to the shadows where Miriam was still standing, then over to the people by the car. He slowly lowered his suitcase to the ground and slid it over to Oliver. The case slid the 5 foot distance with ease. The driveway was smooth and the case was light. Whether or not sliding his only defense to the owner of this house, and father of the young girl, was a good idea or not was going to remain a mystery for the next 20 seconds.

Oliver looked down at the case, then up at Thomas. He reached for the suitcase, carefully ticking the locks and opening it up. After a moment of held breath from everyone in the driveway, Oliver stood back up.

"What's your name?"

"Thomas." There was a moment of silence. What happened next could mess everything up, or it could help him find Jade. That was his goal after all. "Queen."

Without hesitation, Oliver continued his questioning. "Where you from?"

He shrugged, throwing his hands up in defeat. "I'm just trying to find my friend."

Oliver looked over at the person who drove the car. Thomas, finally feeling comfortable enough to break eye contact with Oliver, also looked over. As a cherry on top of whatever the last 6 years have been for him, Felicity was the other person in the car.

He didn't immediately notice how his expression changed when he saw her, the three watching him noticed it, though.

Oliver and Felicity exchanged another look, then Oliver nodded towards the house.

"Get inside."

Thomas looked over at Miriam. She shook her head.

"He's talking to you, T."

He looked over at Oliver again for confirmation. Oliver was already walking towards the house, standing by Felicity's side. Miriam gestured towards the door, not moving from her spot until Thomas made an effort to follow them inside.

* * *

After about 25 minutes of staring at Thomas sitting in the couch, who refused to look at Felicity or Oliver and instead chose his dirty and worn out boots, it was time for questions to begin again. Normally, Miriam wouldn't be a part of this, but she wasn't going to just go to sleep without knowing what's happening.

"You from another earth?" Oliver asked, holding out a bottle of water for him.

Thomas took the bottle and fiddled with the paper wrapping on the outside of it. He nodded to answer the question.

"You know which one?"

He shook his head.

"Why'd you leave?"

"Had no choice."

"Where's your family?"

"Jade's my family."

"Parents?"

He shook his head.

"Siblings?"

He stiffened up more than he was already. Oliver took a mental note of his reaction to that question before moving on.

"How old are you?"

"24."

"See? Old enough to be Eliza's friend." Miriam pointed out. Oliver shot her a glare. She shrugged, resting her chin on the staircase railing.

"You keep mentioning Jade. Did you two leave together?"

"She left before me."

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"What happened to your family?"

Thomas slowly looked up, pointing to Oliver first. "Shot on a raft." Then at Felicity. "Metahuman after Clara was born." He dropped his head back down.

"Raft?" Miriam spoke up again. In hindsight, she should have brought up Clara, but that was probably a sensitive topic.

Thomas looked over at her. "There was a..." He looked around the room for a second, then brought his focus back to Miriam. "Boating thing. My sister drowned. He was shot. I had Jade." He looked over to Oliver again. "Jade has been with me since we were kids. I need find her."

Felicity looked from Thomas to Oliver. "I could check the rifts in the area? See if there were any other ones opened up a few hours before he got here."

Oliver nodded, not taking his focus away from Thomas. "You can stay with us until you find your friend."

"No-"

"Yes. You have nowhere to go, no money, no change of clothes. You came here hoping Jade would meet you, maybe she will." Oliver told him. "We have an extra room available."

"We do?" Miriam looked over to Oliver. "You pimping out Ada and Eliza's room?"

"Will's been staying with Zoe these last few months. He can sleep in there." Felicity answered for Oliver, standing up beside him. "Oliver will show you the way, Miriam will go to bed," Felicity looked directly at Miriam before looking back over at Thomas. "And tomorrow morning, we'll look for Jade." She gave him a friendly smile before walking by to make sure Miriam went upstairs.

"Have you eaten anything?" Oliver asked.

Thomas shook his head. "You don't have to take care of me. I've been taking care of myself for 12 years."

Oliver shrugged. "I have leftovers in the fridge if you change your mind."

"You're oddly okay with having someone from another earth show up at your house."

"My youngest daughter is from another earth." Oliver pointed to a picture of Rosie sitting on the couch end table.

Thomas looked over at the picture he was pointing to.

"Regardless what you decide to do when you find your friend... You're welcome here." Oliver put his hands in his pants pockets. "Will's room is the last door on the left. Leftovers are in the fridge. You can find a change of clothes in Will's room." 

Thomas looked down at the clothes he was wearing. They were partially ripped and covered in dirt. While a fresh set of clothes and food wasn't the first thing on his mind, he figured he might as well take advantage of it while it's being offered because tomorrow, he was finding Jade and they were getting the hell out of here.


End file.
